Abstract
Canadian schools introduced community service program in 1999 to engage youth in diverse communities of Canada. Many studies have identified the gap in understanding immigrant youths’ experience on mandatory community service but has yet to study immigrant youth’s experience. Therefore, this paper explores the experiences of young Nepalese Canadians aged 18- 24 who participated in mandatory community involvement for graduating from high schools in Ontario, Canada. The findings are based on qualitative data gathered from ten interviews with young Nepalese Canadians who went to Canadian high schools, and are currently living in the Greater Toronto area (GTA). The study provides a nuanced understanding of visible minority immigrant youth’s experiences of mandatory community service in high school. The findings suggest that participants experience the program as merely an obligatory requirement to graduate from high school rather than a platform for learning civic skills and engaging in diverse Canadian communities. In addition, this case study of Nepalese Canadian youth depicts how young Nepalese Canadians depend on informal sources, mainly peer-to-peer sharing, for engaging in community, and illustrates how they conceptualize what community involvement means to them. Finally, based on this study, we argue that amendment to this mandatory program is an urgent call for engaging visible minority immigrant youth civically and meaningfully in Canadian communities.
Highlights
Statistics Canada (2009) report shows that Canada has become a country with the highest proportion of foreign-born population (1 in 5 people) among the G8 countries
Asia is the major source of immigrants, Nepalese immigrants are a negligible number compared to other Asian countries
According to Statistics Canada (2011), 15,220 Nepalese Canadians are living across Canada; and around 12,464 Nepalese migrated to Canada from 2004 to 2014 (Statistics Canada, 2016)
Summary
Statistics Canada (2009) report shows that Canada has become a country with the highest proportion of foreign-born population (1 in 5 people) among the G8 countries. Asia is the major source of immigrants, Nepalese immigrants are a negligible number compared to other Asian countries. Nepalese immigration to Canada is growing annually. The latest Canadian census shows that more than one-fifth of Canadians were immigrants—mostly from Asia (61.8%); and the Province of Ontario remains the key hub for new immigrants. Many Nepalese-Canadians as well as new Nepalese immigrants (both visible minority immigrants) live in the most populous metropolitan area of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).This paper is based on a study of Young Nepalese Canadians living in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), who have graduated from high school completing 40 hours of mandatory community service as part of the Ontario high school curriculum. We have selected the GTA, which includes Toronto, Mississauga and Brampton, as a suitable research site for this study
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